Richmond-San Rafael Bridge commute relief due in October 2017

Third lane possible in 2017 to ease congestion

Beleaguered commuters could see a third lane open on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in October 2017.

A final design to open a third eastbound lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has been approved by Caltrans, clearing the way for a project to start once a builder is found.

“Work could start as soon as October,” said John Goodwin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the agency that has led the project. It would take one year of work to open the lane.

In addition to a third vehicle travel lane on its lower deck, a bike lane will go on top. The two projects have a $74 million price tag.

“I am pleased that we’ve reached this essential milestone in our efforts to speed up evening commutes and improve safety in the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge corridor,” said Steve Kinsey, an MTC commissioner and Marin supervisor. “While the fix won’t come soon enough for many frustrated drivers, it required an extraordinary level of collaboration by federal, state, regional and local agencies on both ends of the bridge in order to get the lane opened over a year ahead of the original timeline.”

While opening the lane may sound simple, officials note a state and federal rules environmental analysis is required. In addition, new signs will have to go on the span and a retaining wall on the Contra Costa side must be set back to create added space for cars heading off the span.

The added eastbound car lane would likely be open only during commute hours, allowing Caltrans to retain a shoulder for maintenance work during other times of the day.

Other project elements in Marin include reconfiguring the Main Street onramp from the San Quentin Village area with a retaining wall to improve the traffic merge with the new lane, and replacing pavement on the bridge approaches to accommodate heavier traffic loads, according to officials.

Lost traffic hours

The slowdown around the span in recent years has caused traffic to back up onto northbound Highway 101 and eastbound Interstate 580 in Marin. Opening a third lane could help ease that congestion, transportation officials said.

The traffic to the bridge has had a ripple effect. The northbound commute from 3:30 to 7:10 p.m. on Highway 101 from Marin City to north of Tamalpais Drive in Corte Madera has been ranked as 15th worst in the Bay Area. Drivers in that pocket lose 2,040 hours a day in traffic, according to Metropolitan Transportation Commission figures.

A second bridge project would bring a 10-foot-wide lane on the north side of the roadway on the upper deck of the span. Bicyclists and pedestrians traveling east and west would use the space that would be separated from car traffic by a movable median barrier. It would open in March 2018 under the current plan. A movable barrier is needed to allow Caltrans to perform maintenance work on the span.

The Association of Bay Area Governments is keen on finishing the Bay Trail — a ring around the bay — and wants to use the bridge to help complete the project.

“The extension of the Bay Trail across the upper deck and a protected path from Richmond to Point Molate add special benefits long sought by many trail advocates as well,” Kinsey said.

Bicycle use

The project is also of importance to the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, which has been advocating for it since the organization was founded in 1998.

The bridge initially had three lanes when it opened in 1956, but when drought hit in 1977 a lane on the top deck was closed so a pipeline could be laid across the span to bring water to Marin. When the pipeline was removed in 1978, the top and lower deck lanes were converted to shoulders because of light traffic.

The Richmond-San Rafael is the third least-used of the Bay Area spans, ahead only of the Dumbarton and Antioch bridges. But over the past five years, traffic has increased about 13 percent as the economy has rebounded.

The price tag for the lane is $30 million. The bike path is $29 million, and there is a $15 million contingency.

Once built, the new configurations would be deemed a four-year pilot project and would be analyzed after that time.

Considering the money and time spent, “it’s really being set up to function safely for posterity,” Kinsey said, explaining that characterizing it as a pilot made permitting and environmental review more straightforward. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I expect the modifications will be permanent.”

Dianne Steinhauser, executive director of Transportation Authority of Marin, added it’s a big change for a long bridge, and safety needs to be studied.

“We have a bridge that is more than 4 miles long and we are taking away a shoulder,” she said. “What Caltrans is doing is asking, ‘Is that OK? Let’s test it and see.’”